Thus, we come to the conclusion of the second season. With the end of the season, comes the end of the bizarre openings surrounding the pool (or at least I believe so). I wondered whether or not all those goings on were a red herring and, sure enough, they were. Something does go down at Walt's house, though it is only tangentially tied to his operation.
It should come as no surprise that the death of Jane takes center stage here. We have not one, but two characters who are left devastated by this development. Both Paul and De Lancie sell the grief and it makes the episode much more somber. While Jesse does get a couple of chances to shed tears, both of them are more or less sent into heroic BSOD's. Jesse is struck especially hard as not only is he contending with grief, but guilt as he believes that he's at fault. Looking back, this really wasn't his year.
On a brighter note, the money starts to get funneled in through Junior's crowdfunding endeavor. On the one hand, it would be a surprise to see strangers fork over hundreds of dollars, but at the same time, considering how much Walt has, the number seems rather small. It does have to trickle in to minimize suspicion, though.
In any event, Marie makes it a story by featuring it in the paper and even getting a TV spot. I have a hard time buying that this would make the news. Maybe they wanted it as a fluff piece or it's a small town that needs all the news it can come up with, but with all the crowdfunding going on, it doesn't seem like that big a deal. Nowadays, there are all sorts of Gofundme's, Indiegogo's, Kickstarters, Fundrazrs, and Patreons (ahem) so it doesn't seem like that big a deal. Walt Jr and Skyler should be impressed, but most people...probably not.
This episode is pretty light on the drug aspects. I'm not counting Jesse's use as an unhealthy coping mechanism. Hank does come to the conclusion that Heisenburg is still in action, even deducing that the guy they picked up was just a fall guy, as the blue Meth is popping up out of state.
Gus also pops up at the DEA's office as the fast food restaurant is involved in an event to combat drugs in the community. Irony aside, it does lead him to learn that Walt and Hank are related as Hank had a donation jar so that his fellow officers could chip in to help pay for the surgery. To both the officers' and to Gus' credit, they all chip in some cash. We're not given that total, but it still helps.
As season finales are known for their wham moments, and this one gives us a couple. While Walt's surgery goes extremely well, he does let slip that he has a second phone when Skyler asks him a question after he's anesthetized.
Even the "I was loopy from the drugs" defense doesn't seem to hold water as this small thread reveals the other lies that Walt had been telling (visiting his mother or how Gretchen was paying for the treatments.) Oddly enough, Skyler still doesn't know what Walt is up to. At the same time, it seems like she doesn't want to know. It's a legit stance as all she needs to know is that Walt is lying and that he has access to money that he really shouldn't. That's reason enough to want out and finding out would potentially prove to be more trouble than it's worth.
I'm curious if Walt's offer to open up about everything was legit. It's quite possible that this was another fake out where he "confesses" to something else as a way to cover his tracks. At the same time, you have to figure she's going to discover his secret at some point, it could be to his advantage to just let her in on it as opposed to tanking his marriage entirely.
The other wham moment comes courtesy of Jane's dad, whose shock over Jane's death results in him causing a mid-air collision. It wasn't intentional on his part. It isn't like he was lashing out at the world or attempting to use the debris to damage Walt's house intentionally (if that were the case, it would have been incredibly impressive.) Rather, it's a slip of the tongue that he wasn't able to rectify in time. The fact that it impacted Walt's house was pure coincidence.
Said crash also lets us know where the pink bear came from, as well as all the other "evidence". We still don't know who was taken away in the body bags, but I assume they were victims of the crash.
Overall, I enjoyed the season, though to be honest, I kind of liked the first season more. It seemed like more happened and there were more instances where I found myself leaning forward as I was gripped by what was going to happen next.
You wouldn't think that it would be the case as the plot is rolling and we had more episodes, but I still got that vibe. There was some solid character development across the board, but it led to a more low key season.
Next we dive into the third season, where we'll find out how Jesse pulls himself out of his depression, how Heisenburg's empire will continue to grow, weather or not the cartel will attempt to follow through on their threat, how Hank will cope with his PTSD about Tuco, and how the authorities take to an air traffic controller causing a crash.
I find it hard to believe that future episodes will be this calm as there is a lot of ground to cover. We'll see how things play out when we get to them.
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